Strong



P. AIE. ARMSTRONG.

PROCESS OF AND APPARATUS FOR REMOVING SAND FROM HOLLOW DRILL RODS AND THE LIKE.

APPLICATION FILED IAN. I7. 19H).

Patented Aug. 5, 1919.

2 SHEETS-SHEET I.

nllo l nL I P. A. E. ARMSTRONG. PROCESS ,OF AND APPARATUS FOR REMOV ING SAND FROM HOLLOW DRILL RODS AND THE LIKE.

- APPLICATION FILED JAN. 17. l9l9. 1,31 1,866.

Patented Aug. 5, 1919.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2- INVENTOR BY flak-01 m ATTORNEY UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

' PERCY A.- E. ARMSTRONG, F LOUDONVILLE, NEW YORK.

PROCESS OF AND APPARATUS FOR REMOVING SAND FROM HOLLOW DRILL-RODS AND THE LIKE 1,311,866. Specification of Letters Patent. P t t A 1919,

Application filed January 17, 1919. Serial No. 271,613. I

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, PERCY A. E. ARM- STRONG, a subject of the King of Great Britain, and a resident of' Loudonville, county of Albany, and State of New York, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Processes of and Apparatus for Removing Sand from Hollow Drill- Rods and the like, of which the following 1s a specification. v

The present invention relates to av rocess of removin sand from tubular bodies, such as hollow rill rods and the like, and ap- .paratus for carrying out the process.

- rolling,

r conveniently referr removal easier.

. sand cores by means of air a talc powder, lime,

: or deformed,

The term sand is used .herein asa convenient designation for finely divided materia used in cores for bored billets from which elongated tubular bodies, as hollow drill rods and the like, are made by working the billet and core rt'or elongat on and reduction of cross section, as by heatlng and after which the core 1s removed. dead burned magneslte or zirconia and the like is preferred for this purpose, 'but various other materials may be used, all of whlch may be ed to as sand.

Where the core contains a metallic member in the form of a rod or the like, the removal of the sand is facilitated by withdrawing therod first,.leaving an opening in the sand. The on its surface, the sand and comes out last may be battered which breaks up the sand layer to a greater or less extent, making its The present invention is also applicable to removal of cores of other forms, as the all sand core, which, however, is likely to be more caked and hard to remove than the rod centered core.

It-has heretofore been pro osed to remove d mitted through the bore of the Material such as a pipe or drill inserted in drill rod or other tubular-body. In such case the sand is carried out through the narrow annular passage adjacent to the bore walls, and when the latter are rough or uneven this interference-with the free passage of the particles, making the removal 0 mparatively slow and in some cases even clgusllg such-passage to get choked up and c ose rod may have projections. or the end which goes through In accordance with my invention the sand is withdrawn through a pipe inserted in the 'bore, by which means an increase in the width of passage is available, and as the sand is removed through the smooth walled interior of such pipe there is none of the interference with its passage which may result from its withdrawal in contact with the comparatively rough walls of the bore in the drill rod or other tubular body produced from the cored billet.

1r or other fluid is, introduced through the annular passage outside the pipe, and this air is preferably under high pressure. here is, of course, none of the obstruction to the inward movement of air through this annular passage which is encountered when it 1s attempted to remove the sand by such passage.

In the drawings, Figure 1 is a diagrammatic longitudinal sectional view of an apparatus by which the invention may be carried out. Fig. 2 is a sectional detail view, on an enlarged scale, of a hollow head for introducing air under pressure, and Fig. 3 is a Side view, partly in section, of the entering end of a pipe for sand removal. Thedrawings show but a single unit, which may, of course, be duplicated or supplied in any desired multiples as needed.

The drill rod or other tubular body 10 is supported in any desired way, as on standards 11, and may be clamped thereon as by screws 1'1. The standards may be open at one side to permit ready insertion and removal of the drill rod. One or both of the heads 12 is movable, as by being bolted in place by bolts 13 passing through slots 14. :lhis permits the tubes 10 to be readily put into place when they are to be cleaned out,

and also permits ready removal thereof after the cleanlng is done. Flexible piping, hinge joints in the pipe connections or the like may be used to permit such movement of the head or heads 12.

The heads 12 are clamped in place as by I of a lever 15 (see Fig. 2), and various gated socket adapted to have a fairly close fit over the end portion ofthe drill rod.

The pipes 18 which are introduced into the tube 10 may have a cutting end which, for example, may be substantially chiselshaped, as shown at 19, Fig. 3. The sand is withdrawn through the pipes 18 as by vacuum from an air pump 20, suitable means, such as a separator 21, being preferably utilized to separate out the sand before the air reaches the pump. A pump capable of producing substantially high vacuum is preferably used. Air under compression may be supplied to the heads 12, as

from a compressor 22, and entersthe end of pipe 18 after passing through the annular passages 23 between the pipes 18 and the walls of the bore 10 of the tubular body 10, which passages 23 are in communication with the interior of the hollow heads 12. The directions of air movement are indicated by arrows. 1

Means are preferably supplied to advance the pipes 18 and keep them up to the unremoved sand. For illustration 1 have shown a follower 2 L urged by a weight 25 against the projecting end 26 of the pipe 18 for the purpose of advancing the'pipe as is removed. Various means may, however, be resorted to for advancing or operating the pipe, if desired, as, for example, it may be manipulated by a workman or may be actuated by suitable automatic tools for making use of its cutting edges to loosen and free the particles of sand, as will be readily understood. The pipe itself may be somewhat heavier and stronger than heretofore, since the annular passage around it is utilized for entrance of incoming air only and is not used for discharging sand.

When removing sand for apertured sand cores, as shown at 27 Fig. 2, if the sand is but one end at a time be plugged, as shown at 28, Fig.

all sand core or the apertured core may be used, as the air in the intermediate core portion,

' It will be'seen that the air entering under pressure about the walls of the bore 1s the bore, away close to the bore walls, which is advanadapted to pact upon keep the bore clean, and its 1mthe sand is close to the walls of tendmg to keep the sand vcore cut tageous in securing its rapid and complete removal, particularly ifthere is already an opening at the center of the core. The action of the entering air is indicated roughly in Fig. 2. The portions of'the sand core ad-"' jacent to the bore walls, and indicatedat 2,9,

29, receive the impact of the entering air and and the bore walls may be seen the sand I.

2. When working from both: ends,- Y as in Fig. 1,, the

if open, is under -duced under pressure substantially balanced pressures.

tend to be cut away first, whereupon the portions 30, 30, adjacent to the central bore 27, being deprived of support from the bore walls and already more or less broken up by the withdrawal of the rod therefrom, are readily disintegrated and removed. The tubular member 10 may, of course, be subjected to vibration, jarring and the like action to assist in the freeing and removal of the sand.

The outgoing sand and air pass freely through the opening in the smooth walled pipe 18. That a wider passage may be obtained in this way than in the case of removal through the passage between the pipe from the.

following example, which, of course, 18 for illustration only and a plies more particularly' to hollow steel I'lll rods of certain sizes, and does not limit me to any particular dimensions.

If the bore of the tube is, say, and the pipe with walls and bore, the averagewidth of the annular opening about the pipe is or, at most, when the pipelies at one side of the bore it may be '15, which is the largest size of particle that can be removed through this annular passage, whereas with removal through the pipe a clear 1 g passage is secured and the walls with which the outgoing particles comeinto contact are smooth and not rough, as the bore of the tube may be. In this case it will be noted that the total cross section of the annular passage about the pipe is considerably more thanthat of the hole in the pipe, but the width or diameter of the latter, which determines the size of particles that can be removed, is 50% more than the greatest width of the former and three times the average width thereof. This is of advantage with any type of core,

ticular advantage with the apertured cores produced by placing a rod in the sand core, which, when elongated, as by rolling, with the billet and the envelop of sand, is withdrawn, leaving a central aperture in the sand and leaving .the'sand itself in more or less broken up condition.

It should be noted that when air is introit is not essential in all cases that vacuum be applied to thepassage within the pipe, and, reversely,""when vacuum in the pipe is employed it is not es-= sentialin' all cases that around'the pipe be under pressure, but preferably' both are employed. Other fluid media may, of course, be used instead of air, which, however, is the convenient and preferable medium to-be used. 1

- I claim:

1. The process of removing core'sand from bores of tubular bodies which consists in forcing compressed air into the bore while confining same so as to-discharge primarily 1 but is of Inn y the air entering 1 to such as drill rod and the against the sand adjacent to the bore walls and loosen it therefrom, and in removing the loosened sand.

2. Theprocess of removin 5 bores of tubular bodies w ich consists in producing a central aperture in the sand 'core, in forcing compressed air into the bore While confining same so as to discharge against the sand substantially closely adjacent to the bore walls, and removing the loosened sand when freed from the bore walls.

3. The process of removing sand cores from tubular bodies which consists in inserting a pipe therein and removing the sand through the pipe by suction, the sand passing out through the pipe with the air which enters the bore through the annular passage between the pipe and bore Walls.

20 4. The process of removing core sand from tubular bodies which comprises introducing a pipe in the bore thereof, forcing in compressed air through the annular assage between the pipe and the bore wa s, and discharging the air and sand carried therewith through the pipe.

5. The process of removing core sand from tubular bodies such as drill rod and the like which comprises inserting in the bore thereof a pipe having a bore of width greater than the maximum width of the annular space between the pipe and the bore walls of the tubular body, forcing in compressed air through the annular passage between the pipe and the bore walls, and a plying vacuum within the pi e, whereby the sand is dislodged and wit drawn through the pipe.

6. The process of making tubular bodies I ike which comprises putting a metallic rod in the sand core of a bored billet, working the billet and core for elongation and reduction of cross section as by rolling, withdrawing the 5 rod whereby the sand of the core is left core sand fromwith an opening therein and in more or less broken up condition, introducing a pipe into the bore of the tubular body, enterin air therein through the narrow assage a ut the pipe whereby the sand a jacent to the bore walls is dislodged by incoming air, and withdrawing the air and sand through the interior of the pipe.

7. The process of removing core sand from tubular bodies havin a sand core with a metal rod therein which comprises deforming the followin end of the rod and withdrawing same tirough the core sand, introducing a suction ipe within the bore of the tubular body wiereby the sand is removed through the pipe and air is admitted through the annular passage about the pi e adjacent to the bore walls to dislodge t e sand from the walls of the bore. 7

8. Ap aratus for removing core sand from tubular Bodies which comprise a suction pi e adapted to be inserted in the bore of t e tubular body, vacuum means for drawing air and sand therethrough, and air compressing means adapted to discharge air under pressure into such bore by the annular passa e between the pipe and the bore walls.

9. 5p aratus for removing core sand from tubular lriodies which comprise hollow heads adapted to be clamped to the opposite ends of the tubular body, one at least of such heads being movable to permit putting the tubular body in place, suction pipes adapted to be passed through such heads and into the bore in the tubular body, means for drawing air and sand through said pipes, and air compressing means adapted to supply said under pressure to the interior of the hollow heads and to discharge same into the bore in the tubular body by the annular passages between the pipe and the bore wall In testimony that I claim the foregoing, I have hereto set my hand, this 14th day of January, 1919.

PERCY A. E. ARMSTRONG. 

